The diminutive Jamaican sprinter was one of the star performers at the IAAF World U18 Championships Cali 2015, where he sped to a world age-15 best of 45.27 to win the 400m.

A brief injury spell meant that Taylor was not at his best at the last World U20 Championships, but this season he has set national U20 records at 100m (10.11) and 400m (44.88). His 200m PB of 20.35, meanwhile, puts him second on the Jamaican U20 all-time list behind Usain Bolt.

He still has another full season left as an U20 athlete, but the Ethiopian teenager has already established himself as one of the best distance runners in the world.

Barega was a relative unknown when he won the world U20 5000m title in 2016. Now a regular on the international circuit, he heads to Tampere with the aim of becoming the first man in history to win back-to-back world U20 titles in the 5000m.

The South African 400m hurdler set a world U18 best of 48.84 in 2017 and went on to win the world U18 title in Nairobi, finishing almost three seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

Now in his first year as an U20 athlete, Zazini continues to impress in both one-lap events. Earlier this year he reduced his PBs to 45.86 for the 400m flat and 49.32 over the senior height 400m hurdles.

Few athletes in history have achieved as much while an U20 athlete as Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis.

Born into a pole vaulting family, the USA-based Swede has set countless age-group records on his rapid rise to the top. He now owns the eight best vaults in history at the U20 level, indoors and out, topped by his lifetime best of 5.93m.

The Cuban production line of horizontal jumpers shows no signs of slowing down; in fact, Jordan Diaz could well be one of the brightest talents the country has ever produced.

He bounded out to a world U18 best of 17.30m to win the world U18 title in Nairobi last year and extended that mark to 17.41m in Havana last month. The 17-year-old sits at third on the world U20 all-time list and still has another two years in the age group.

Although she was already the world U18 and U20 champion, the Kenyan steeplechaser produced one of the biggest surprises of the 2017 season when she set a world U20 record of 8:58.78 in Eugene, making her the second-fastest woman in history.

Now a regular competitor on the international circuit, Chespol owns the six fastest times in history at the U20 level.

She has jumped higher than any U18 pole vaulter in history, and now the 18-year-old is aiming to cap her U20 career by taking her first global title.

The globe-trotting Swede has spent time living in Sweden, Argentina, Luxemburg, France and is now based in the USA. Having set a world U18 best of 4.50m in 2016, her PB now stands at 4.60m – the highest vault in the world this year by an U20 athlete.